MIT Supply Chain Frontiers

Voices from the Open Road: Utilization, Shippers, and Driver Quality of Life

Supply chains in the U.S. rely heavily on over-the-road trucking to reliably and safely provide essential supplies to businesses and consumers. These networks are comprised of innumerable relationships between shippers who have goods to move and carriers who they contract to move them. It is often warehouse workers and truckers who are the "end users" of these complex relationships.

Today, MIT CTL research scientist and FreightLab co-director David Correll chats with three experienced voices in trucking to better understand what life is like on the ground—or on the road if you will. David speaks with Desiree Ann Wood A.K.A. Trucker Desiree, founder of REAL Women in Trucking, Mark Cavanagh, Goodyear Highway award winner driving with CTL Partner USXpress, and "Long Haul" Paul Marhoefer, 40-year industry veteran, musician, and host of Radiotopia's, Over the Road.

In today’s discussion, we hear about some of the delight and discontent on the open road and attempt to shed some light on why it is that U.S. truckers appear to be both scarce and underutilized at the same time. This conversation is part of Dr. Correll's ongoing research within the MIT FreighLab Driver Initiative.

Accessible transcripts of all podcasts available here. https://ctl.mit.edu/podcasts

Supplier Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Challenges and Opportunities

Initial research indicates that there are both commercial and social benefits to DE&I programs within organizations. MIT CTL and MIT Sustainable Supply Chains make a case for companies to revisit their efforts (HBR article) and, if necessary, commit themselves to take supplier diversity efforts more seriously.

During a recent MIT CTL roundtable*, professionals from across industry met to discuss the challenges and opportunities currently facing the implementation of supplier diversity within organizations. From measurement and metrics to leadership collaboration, the discussion proposed some avenues for additional consideration.

In today's episode, Nalini Bates from Procter and Gamble and Kris Oswold of UPS are joined by MIT CTL's Alexis Bateman to point out some of the prevailing challenges and possible opportunities revealed during the conversation. While this research area is emergent at MIT CTL and a full report will be available soon, you can also sign up to receive more information about supplier diversity research at the Center as it becomes available at the link below. 

https://sustainable.mit.edu/contact-us/

*MIT CTL roundtables are intimate discussions open to our Partner companies and invited guests. Roundtable reports are published regularly. Learn more about becoming a partner here.

Accessible transcripts of all podcasts available here. https://ctl.mit.edu/podcasts

Flexibility for the Future - How Disruption Fosters Innovation

Like never before, companies have learned during the pandemic to pivot quickly across multiple dimensions. They ramped up production, changed their processes, and adopted new technologies, at speed unimaginable before the crisis. In only six weeks, contract manufacturer Flex ramped up its ability to produce ventilators while New Balance designed and produced thousands of masks, in a matter of days. Such transformations can afford many successful companies with new competitive advantages.

In this conversation, you will learn how two companies use these lessons to set themselves up for the post-pandemic future in the B2B and B2C markets.

In his book, THE NEW (AB)NORMAL: Reshaping Business and Supply Chain Strategy Beyond Covid-19, MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi details their stories as well as many others. In this episode, Lynn Torrel, Chief Procurement and Supply Chain Officer at Flex, and Dave Wheeler, COO at New Balance, will join professor Sheffi for a conversation about the lessons learned during the pandemic, leadership lessons, and their views about what supply chains will look like in the future.

Accessible transcripts of all podcasts available here. https://ctl.mit.edu/podcasts

Rapid Systems Assessments for Crisis Response with MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab

Every corner of the globe has suffered from supply chain disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic. Beginning in March with a focus on U.S. food supply chains, the MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab (HSCL) began providing evidence-based analysis to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to inform strategic planning around the supply chain risks. At around the same time, work was being done in Uganda as part of ongoing systems mapping and assessment of smallholder farmers. This episode explores the similarities and differences between the two projects and offers pathways for how you can engage in similar methodologies.

Read about and download all the methodologies and assessments here.

Read and download a full transcript of this episode here.

Food Security and Supply Chain Management with Chris Mejía Argueta

Food security is top of mind given supply chain considerations caused by a global pandemic. MIT CTL congratulates the World Food Program staff for their recent Nobel Peace Prize awarded for their work in alleviating hunger. On the topic of food security, MIT CTL’s Ken Cottrill speaks with Chris Mejía Argueta, the director of the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab about food deserts and some of the innovative projects that leverage supply chains to combat food insecurity. Access to nutritious, affordable food remains a challenge to a growing segment of the world's people. From Somerville, MA in the USA to India, Mejía discusses research and interventions underway at the lab.

Learn more about the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab 

Read more about the Somerville project (SCM Capstone).

Nanostores, a force to reckon with to fight malnutrition (Article).

Go deeper with, Reaching 50 Million Nanostores: Retail Distribution in Emerging Megacities (Book) 

Read and download the full transcript of this episode.

Supply Chain Decision Making and Design in Times of Disruption with LLamasoft CEO, Razat Gaurav

​Innovation in supply chain decision making and design has flourished in recent years. The availability of high-quality data coupled with an urgent need to respond to disruption has fostered rapid change in how organizations coordinate, cooperate, and improve their operations. Join LLamasoft CEO, Razat Gaurav in conversation with MIT CTL's Matthias Winkenbach to get a glimpse of how the world's most successful companies are organizing to meet their decision and design challenges through data democratization, the use of micro-apps and by engaging in a federated solutions approach. Learn more at MIT CTL. Visit the MIT Computational and Visual Education (CAVE) Lab.

 

Read and download the full transcript of this episode.

Truck and Drone Cooperative Delivery Vehicle Systems - Social Implications

In the past decade, the logistics industry has experienced substantial growth and its fair share of technological disruption. Particularly in urban settings, consumer demand for same-day or two-hour delivery has ballooned and companies have struggled to meet demand without incurring substantial “last-mile” delivery costs. Farri Gaba, a research associate with Megacity Logistics Lab at MIT CTL, speaks with us about truck-and-drone cooperative delivery vehicle systems. We have a look at some of the broader social and ethical implications caused by emerging drone technology and how the Lab is addressing them with a working paper and research initiative. Learn more about the work here. 

Accessible transcripts of all podcasts available here. https://ctl.mit.edu/podcasts

 

 

Transportation Innovation with Michelle Livingstone, Vice President - Transportation at The Home Depot

Chris Caplice discusses insights on transportation, people management, and creating the workforce of the future with Michelle Livingstone of The Home Depot. Drawing on over 25 years of experience, Ms. Livingstone comments on her role leading a highly talented team that oversees the movement of all domestic and international shipments into Home Depot‘s distribution centers and outbound to stores. This episode hosted by MIT Freight Lab

 

Download the audio transcript here.

 

50 Years of Earth Day: MIT Perspectives in the Face of Radical Change

Recorded on the 50th Earth Day to explore what the path forward may look like to the 2050 Climate Goals and a more sustainable future in the face of radical change. We explored the ecological, political, technological, and industrial perspectives on the intersections of sustainability, climate change, and innovation, what this means now and for the future. 

Hosted by MIT Sustainable Supply Chains @ MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics #MITEarthDay50

 

Read full transcript here.

Sustainability in supply chains with Alexis Bateman, CTL Research Scientist and Director, MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative

Join MIT CTL's Ken Cottrill in a candid conversation on the State of Supply Chain Sustainability research area. Learn about a comprehensive new study underway, the first of its kind. Learn more at https://sustainable.mit.edu/ 

Download the full transcript here.